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From Saturday: Man City def. Man Utd this time via penalties for the pre-season FA Community Shield at Wembley since 2019

by Sports Benches

From yet another Manchester Derby weekend this time for the pre-season Community Sheid trophy at Wembley Stadium, this match went the other way round via penalty shootouts between two of the recent English Football champions – 23/24 Premier League winners Manchester City and 23/24 FA Cup winners Manchester United.

Man Utd as always got away with the scoresheets first that late thanks to substitute winger Alejandro Garnacho off the right flank. But then a fellow attacking sub at the opposite end of Bernardo Silva went on to quickly rebound a few mins later for Man City that held their Manchester rivals back after a long 90-100 mins of normal time followed by another half-hour’s play as the game had to be decided via penalties at 1-1 apiece. 

Man City were so close towards closing out another FA triumph when they capped off their inconsistent season with the FA Cup back in May that would mean a direct entry into the Europa League group stages, but then a series of late penalty misses unfortunately paved the way for Man City to end their years-long drought with that trophy plate since 2019 by 8-7. That was close there by Man Utd who thought the Community Shield trophy would be theirs that would mean yet another trophy for head coach Erik Ten Hag after all the stick he’s getting since he first took over back in the summer of 2022. There’s still a long way to go when it comes to winning back the Premier League title with Sir Richard Ratcliffe onboard as their minor owner and Man Utd hasn’t done that since Sir Alex Ferguson retired after he finished his long decorated career on a high back in 2013.

Meanwhile, great to see Man City lift the Community Shield plate having bounced back from behind when things were so quiet for the most part on what has been a terrific comeback to enter the new Premier League season with a trophy. Gotta say the late subs as well as their excellent penalty kicking options after holding back Man Utd worked well on their favour. 

Yes, it won’t an easy one for sure as seen over the last few Premier League seasons when you got Arsenal sniffing around top spot thanks to his student Mikel Arteta. But they’ve been there and done that by covering themselves in glory over the last decade or so and Man City will surely want to be the best by winning every completion they’ve got available across the whole of England, then Europe and also the World, especially with the proper Club World Cup happening in mid-2025.

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Olympics Soccer News: USWNT win back the Women’s Olympic Gold thanks to Mallory Swanson one & only winning goal over Brazil in Emma Hayes’s first title as their new coach 

by Sports Benches

Here’s another Olympic Soccer moment in the women’s gold medal match from overnight at Parc Des Princes in Paris and the USA women’s national soccer team aka USWNT has won back the gold medal over Brazil 1-0 since the London 2012 edition. It’s the fifth time they’ve done it that goes back to Atlanta 1996, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012 and now Paris 2024. What’s next now is for USWNT to win back the World Cup in 2027 where they’ve made a big name for themselves over the last two decades with four World Cup titles that goes back to 1999 on home soil over China at Rose Bowl in California.

It was quiet first half run where both teams ended up scoreless without the net. But fortunately, striker Mallory Swanson (nee Pugh) scored the one and only gold medal winning goal in the 57th minute for USWNT, as the US side defended so well including a valiant display from the keeper Alyssa Naeher towards the very end after a long 100 mins of play across two halves.

It’s Emma Hayes’s first major honour as their new head coach since the summer following a long decorated stint with the Chelsea ladies team in the WSL, which is the women’s equivalent of the men’s Premier League competition. Yes, there was doubt about a few experienced players being left out but time must go on to rejuvenate this USWNT squad with a few new youngsters coming in and it’s so far, so good with still a long way to go.

And heartbreak to Brazil with another silver medal yet again for the third time in women’s Olympic soccer history. They weren’t bad for a start in defense to keep the USWNT quiet at times, Brazil just couldn’t grasp the best out of their attacking play where things were so unlucky at times. But then time ran out against them and there’s nothing Brazil can do about it as they too also came from a long way to get where they want to be, having last done that back in Athens 2004,

Don’t forget they haven’t played in an Women’s World Cup Final since China 2007 over a 2-0 loss to Germany and with a home World Cup around the corner in 2027, it’s going to be a big opportunity for them to finally go one better when the Brazil women’s soccer team always fell short despite their early group stage and knockout success outside of these Finals.

What a way to finish off the Paris 2024 Olympics Soccer tournament with Spain breaking the host nation hearts of France yesterday in the men’s and USWNT just returned to winning ways once again over Brazil. While there’s nothing we can do about it about our Matildas’ early exit when there’s no Sam Kerr due to a ongoing ACL knee injury, a new era awaits though from here later this year with a new coach now that Tony Gustavsson recently left last week after a roller coaster last few years.

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Olympics Soccer News: Spain def. France to end their long-awaited Olympics gold medal chase since Barcelona 1992 after a stunning finish in added extra time by 5-3

by Sports Benches

Heartbreak from the host nation France with the silver medal following their 3-1 loss to Spain at Parc Des Princes, especially when they haven’t played in Paris at all until the one and only time now. 

So a bit like the Blackcaps really in cricket when they’ve been unbeaten in New Zealand all along until they’ve lost to the Aussies with the World Cup Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground back in 2015.

For France, gotta say the starting goal keeper should’ve done any better to save these shots at his own end – which was disappointing really when Spain got away with 2-3 easy goals. They’ve did the best though possible off the back of their good start including their late charge to unseat Spain for the gold medal honours. But again, their extra time performance was as the same as the keeper’s first half display unfortunately. Not even having less ball on their own defensive end allowed Spain to extend their lead during another half hour’s play in Paris by 5-3.

As said, you gotta feel sorry for the French attackers who did their best to give their home crowd a best possible ending for gold. But Spain holds the cards though as the end of the day for gold since Barcelona 1992, having lost to Brazil last time round four years ago at Tokyo 2020 (in 2021 due to COVID) 2-0 via extra time.

Speaking of Spain, they’ve been unstoppable from 1-0 down to 3-1 going into half-time thanks to a double Fermin Lopez strike. Yes, they may have been held up at the first attempt following a high stakes 3-3 all after 100 minutes of two halves. But again, they are the team who ran the French defenses wild thanks to their expansive attacking play that rattled the opposition keeper all day long when substitute Sergio Camello scored back-to-back late extra time goals — and that is how you finish off a gold medal performance in Olympics soccer for Spain.

Now there’s two more days to go before Paris 2024 is done and dusted with the Closing Ceremony at Stade De France.

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Olympics Soccer News: Jean-Phillipe Mateta and Michael Olise saves the day for France to a home gold medal final v Spain following a 3-1 win over Egypt via extra time in Lyon

by Sports Benches

Wow!! We thought the host nation France would be out at one stage when the first half was quiet and Egypt got away with the early 2nd half goal. But wait, the 2nd semi-final of the Paris 2024 men’s soccer tournament wasn’t over just yet when France held Egypt back with the 1-1 equaliser at the end of 90 mins normal time. Since it’s a knockout match, the game went into extra time where France not only scored one but two more goals during the extra half-hour that secured them a gold medal match at PSG’s Parc De Princes Stadium in Paris this weekend v Spain. Gotta hail their main man & their main striker who plays for Crystal Palace in Jean-Phillipe Mateta. He scored two brilliant goals where he can do everything that a No.9 requires such as mainly scoring goals as well as beating opposition defenders that kept France’s hopes alive – one for the equaliser late in the 2nd half and another to overtake Egypt for the lead during the 1st extra time period. 

Plus, shoutout his national team-mate and now former Crystal Palace club team-mate, having just joined Bayern Munich recently, and his name is Michael Olise over in the No.10 attacking midfield role. Olise also played a huge role earlier this morning with one assist for his former club team-mate Mateta as well as one late goal to safeguard France’s semi-final win over Egypt 3-1. Imagine that lethal partnership of Mateta and Olise if that went on and on going into the new Premier League season had Elise not moved clubs from Crystal Palace to Bayern but no denying the dream of Olise wanting to play for one of the best teams in the world, especially if it’s the Bundesliga in Germany where Bayern have won lots of titles there in the past.

And yes, heartbreak to Egypt who may have got away with the good 2nd half when both teams struggled to find the net early on. But they just couldn’t find a way to get on hold of them through the end, especially when less ball didn’t help that much. Although they can still bow out on a high for the Bronze Medal Match this Friday v another African side via Morocco. France is now set for a homecoming finish to the host city in Paris where they’ve yet to play there so far as let’s see if they can pull this off towards a home gold medal win v Spain this Friday afternoon over there/very early Saturday at 2 AM AEST.

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Olympics Soccer News: An early Jean-Phillipe Mateta header strike off a corner enough to send host France into the semi-final v Egypt after a 1-0 win over Argentina in Marseille

by Sports Benches

We also had a rematch of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Final this time at an Olympics soccer match between France and Argentina at Stade Velodrome in Marseille.

This time, the one and only early header off a corner by Crystal Palace No.9 Jean Phillipe-Mateta was enough to see off Argentina the whole way through for France thanks to a series of Argentinian missed opportunities with the 1-0 win. Now the host nation will take on Egypt on Tuesday morning at 5am AEST whose next opponents got away with the win earlier today v Paraguay via penalties 5-4 when both teams settled the score 1-1 after a long 120 minutes of open time.

Disappointing from Argentina with the loss despite having lots of ball there to try and kick out France of the Men’s Olympic soccer tournament. But then they kept on hitting and missing these shots on goal that gave the French keeper a sigh of relief time and time again, which was unfortunately not good enough at the end of the day following their last 8 exit. They might have made the knockout stages for the first time since their gold medal run back in 2008 in Beijing but they will have to wait four years if Argentina wants it back that could be 20 years since their last Olympics soccer triumph come LA in 2028.

And well done to France on what has been a magnificent win v Argentina on home soil with unfinished business by their head coach Thierry Henry. Love seeing Phillipe-Mateta sprint on time for that header where he’s so lethal in all fronts that a No.9 should do as proven in the Premier League for Crystal Palace. Yes, there’s nothing the French can do when their second goal was ruled out by VAR.  But despite not having much ball opportunities, the French were fortunate enough to escape the Argentinians unscathed with the 1-0 win. Now they’ve yet to have played in Paris so far but it looks like France will need their full support on Monday night over there in Lyon, so they can hopefully finish off a high v the winner of Morocco or Spain.

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Olympics Soccer News: The Matildas campaign came crashing down early following their 2-1 loss v USWNT coupled with Canada’s 1-0 win v Colombia for the two of the best third-place teams 

by Sports Benches

So gutted to hear that the Matildas won’t be able to roar into the Quarter-Finals this time around unfortunately at Paris 2024 as they won’t be able to play any further now that the Quarter-Final teams are set without them.

It’s not the match the Matildas wanted when they were really struggling to get a grasp out of the mighty USA’s WNT side all along with a few scoring opportunities here & there to try and stay in contention off the back of their opening game loss v Germany (3-1) followed by a near scare comeback win v Zambia (6-5) the other day. Not even though a late goal by Alannah Kennedy wasn’t enough in the 92th minute to stop them from at least settling the score with the 2-1 loss before Canada’s 1-0 win over Colombia a few hours later has left the Matildas out of the cold based on the best Top 2 of 3rd-placed teams.

Oh Canada haven’t we been kind when you’ve been out there eliminating the Aussies left, right and centre across multiple sports including the Medal women’s semi-final in the Rugby 7s the other day and now it’s happening in Soccer. They too are going into the last 8 instead v the Matildas’ Group B opponents who won from the 3-1 opening game nearly a week ago in Team Germany.

Congrats to USA with the win who has been dominant across the pitch where they were able to get away of two goals out a possible 20 throughout the match v Matildas. Sure, they’re a really young side that is going to take time when a few experienced heads like Alex Morgan aren’t there to play in Paris by now head coach Emma Hayes, who coached Sam Kerr recently at Chelsea prior to her post there this summer. However, they know what it takes to go all the way before having last won gold there back in 2012 in London, as their journey continues in the last 8 v Japan at Parc De Princes this weekend.

Meanwhile, Aussie sports fans really wanted the Matildas to do well so bad based on their breakthrough run at the Women’s World Cup last year on home soil. But then no Sam Kerr when she’s out right now due to an ACL knee injury has really hit them hard that would’ve set them the difference of making into the knockout stages and having to experience elimination once the early-rounds are over like they have to go through right now.

They had a few chances on the counter-attack to try and extract some from USWNT’s missed shots towards goal but then the defense had a really tough time in the office to say for the most part including star keeper Mackenzie Arnold that allowed themselves to slipped away with two lost goals to their opponents across both halves. Plus, a few ill-disciplines and offsides didn’t help their cause much either I’m afraid that forced USA’s hand a few times and there goes that poor result & eventually their Olympics campaign that early too.

Now the Tillies better need to move onto the next task to regroup themselves from there by building on their stunning growth that won the hearts of many Aussie sports fans. The question happening right now will Tony Gustavsson be around after this as head coach who oversaw the Matildas over these last few roller-coasting years?  Time will tell, even when Sam Kerr will eventually be back from her long ongoing ACL injury at some point.

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Olympics Soccer News: Matildas fresh faces off the bench saved the day with the 6-5 win v Zambia this morning in Nice

by Sports Benches

Looking at the half-time score, yes, the Matildas or Tillies have scored some goals which wasn’t bad to see for a start. But they are still two goals behind Zambia when it comes to the overall lead. 

It’s not looking good from here unfortunately off the back of their opening game loss v Germany the other day before Opening Ceremony Friday 3-0. So 7 goals conceded so far in this Olympic tourney and all they need to do now is hopefully turn this around to make it 4-4 all draw or a 5-4 win. 

That way, they can still be in the running to play knockout football ahead of their next game v Team USA mid-week.

Wow!! Anything can happen that quick in soccer when the game wasn’t over with one x 45 done from behind to wrapping up the other 45 mins with the 6-5 win. We thought it was game over when Zambia extended their lead to five not long after half-time thanks to a free-kick that went against them. Fortunately, a few fresh faces from the bench by coach Tony Gustavsson have made a big difference though being led by veteran forward Michelle Hayman & Arsenal women’s No.9 Caitlin Foord.

The Tillies were able to gain more control of the ball where plenty of shots were flying everywhere towards the keeper. Although another quick goal attempt was denied via the VAR, but they still mean business thanks to these winning free-kicks including a 5th straight penalty kick by Steph Catley before Heyman scored the 6th and winning goal on what has been an unreal comeback for the win.

Fair play to Zambia with their really good first half performance that gave our Matildas a hard time along the way including their extended lead for a bit longer. But a couple of defensive mistakes including from the keeper forced their hand to the Tillies where they could’ve still hold onto the lead had the ball not been mistaken into the net. And unfortunately, Zambia just couldn’t shy from the quality the Tilles had to offer before it was too late as the clock ticks down with the game-finishing loss. I’m sure they will come back stronger next time.

All the Matildas have to do now is be at their best v Team USA and as long as New Zealand lose to France at the same time mid-week, then they will get a 2nd chance in the Quarter-Finals. 

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Olympics News: Germany too good to kickstart the group stage in Marseille 3-0 as the Matildas now need to regroup against Zambia and Team USA over the next week

by Sports Benches

It wasn’t been the start our Matildas team wanted yesterday with the 3-0 loss v Germany but we do need to move on with Zambia up next on 3am Monday AM followed by Team USA also 3am Thursday morning. A 2nd placed finish would be nice considering how much the Tillies improved over these past few years including the 2023 Women’s World Cup, but scoring more goals from here including a possible draw or a close loss v Team USA might be enough to play depending on how good they are for the best of third like it was in Tokyo four years ago. That way, they can come from behind to play Finals again.

Credit to Germany who played really well with their dominant possession-based & expansive attack, having made good use of their corners by Giulia Gwinn that landed into the net twice (1 goal in the opening 45 & another goal later in the 2nd half) followed by a third goal via 1-2 touch from Jule Brand. One thing they need to watch though is their discipline that gave the opposition the opportunity to cash in where Germany overstepped the mark at times that could’ve been an extra 1-2 goals had the referee/VAR not ruled it as offside, etc. But so far, so good as the Germany women’s team need their full support all over France like they had at the 2016 Olympics in Rio across Brazil where they won the gold medal there v Sweden 2-1.

And for the Matildas, they tried their best to get the job done at times on the counter-attack both through open play and free-kicks as well as corners. However, they were nowhere near closer towards goal in an effort to strike one back past the keeper when it comes to the executions unfortunately. Plus, their defence has been sloppy at times including lost corners where Germany had a great sniff at them for the most part – no matter how many times Germany tries to shoot towards goal, which was too good for them to walk away with the win. This is a display the Matildas should’ve done better as if it’s their Final but getting over Zambia and hopefully a new-look Team USA side would hopefully give them a 2nd chance to play for an extended run in the knockout finals. Who knows? But they better avoid elimination first going into this weekend & next week.

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Thoughts on Valencia’s half-built Nou Mestalla just being left out of the updated 2030 FIFA World Cup venues list for Spain

by Sports Benches

It looks like Valencia has been left out of Spain’s revised and likely final list yesterday of having 11 venues for the upcoming 2030 FIFA World Cup tournament amid uncertainty about the Nou Mestalla venue that is still not yet finished at 50% capacity since construction was halted back in around 2009 due to financial issues & yet still no word when they will resume today.

Spain wanted to make it 13 including Valencia where the stadia would finally be up and running after all this time but then Portugal and Morocco ain’t having it. 

There was hope last Friday that the work on finally getting Nou Mestalla done will re-start within the next six months with a revised target of around 30 months before Valencia CF would finally move their home games there, which is two and a half years from now between late 2024/early 2025 to mid-2027 perhaps if that’s the case.

If the dispute of not getting construction re-started goes on unless they can come up with an even bigger excuse for everyone to accept, then there will be penalties to apply against the club – that’s it as it’s now or never for Nou Mestalla. 

Otherwise, the city will have no other choice but to have it completely taken down into something else and the area can finally move on from the mess without the club itself.

Let’s hope the Nou Mestalla half-finished saga gets resolved sooner rather than later and it’s up to Valencia CF and its owners I guess where they’ve haven’t been the same glorious club as it once was before back in the early 2000s. We’ve seen the same thing happening in the past with St. Petersburg’s Krestovsky Stadium when it took around a decade to finally have their new stadium being built in time for the 2018 FIFA World Cup back then, why can’t Nou Mestalla regardless of its 2030 WC fate?

Time will tell following Valencia’s latest elimination from the 2030 World Cup list yesterday soon enough.

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Copa America 2024: Argentina conquers America once again

by Admin

In an arduous and fiercely contested match, typical of Copa America, Argentina was crowned champions once again, courtesy of Lautaro Martinez’s decisive goal in overtime.

Led by Lionel Scaloni, the reigning champions of America and the world, Argentina aimed to replicate the same triumph they did in 2021 when they beat bitter rivals Brazil in the final and hoisting the Copa America trophy at Maracanã.

This time around, Colombia, led by the forgotten man James Rodriguez, came to the final undefeated, driven to secure only its second continental trophy in history. Under the impressive direction of Argentine manager Nestor Lorenzo, Los Cafeteros, were aiming to shock the world in Miami.

After an unexpected delay of over an hour, caused by the disturbance outside the Miami Dolphins’ Hard Rock Stadium, the match kicked off with La Scaloneta – as the Argentinian team is known – going after the Colombia teams.

Just under a minute into the match, Manchester City striker Julian Alvarez took a shot inside the box at goalkeeper Camilo Vargas, but the ball narrowly missed the corner.

The Colombian team quickly ensure to dispel any notions that they would be intimidated by it, as they steadily up their lines, applied firm pressure on the Argentina defense, and through the pressure managed to steal the ball from the defenders, creating their first scoring opportunities.

In a brave performance by Nestor Lorenzo’s team, Colombia absolutely took command of the match in the initial 20 minutes, forcing Emi Martinez to work twice during this time.

Colombia absolutely dominated the first half, with James Rodriguez creating chances through the middle, Jhon Córdoba hitting the post with a short-range effort and defender Carlos Cuesta drawing a fine save from Dibu Martinez in a header inside the box.

Argentina struggled to find their footing on the pitch. After Lionel Messi got injured in the 37th minute, it felt like the Argentine team was desperately crying for the half. No changes on the first eleven for the second half for Scaloni, but a change in posture from Argentina was necessary.

A change in posture came in a rather topsy-turvy manner. To start the second half, Argentina started lifting balls into the penalty area, thus lifting their fans together.

However, In the 66th minute, Argentina suffered a big blow, Lionel Messi went off with an apparent ankle injury. Sat on the bench, tears streaming down his face, as he held an ice bag to his right foot, felt like this might be the last image of Messi with the Albiceleste.

A horrid second half, little to no creativity by both teams. By the 80th minutes, it was evident that neither team was willing to take any chances.

So, we went to overtime in Miami. Through an intense first half of overtime, both teams appeared to be exhausted, but what was striking was the high-paced South American style of play. When Juan Fernando Quintero entered the match; Colombia had a surge in physical vitality and creativity.

Scaloni answered with Lautaro Martínez, who made a fierce entrance and ultimately scored in the 112 minute to give Argentina the trophy.

The win over Colombia secured Argentina’s 16th continental trophy, surpassing Uruguay and establishing them as the most successful team in the tournament’s history. Lionel Scaloni once again leads Argentina to a championship, yet the spotlight also shines on Lionel Messi and Ángel Di María who might have done their last game ever with the national team.

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